Create dashboards

When you have created several reports and charts then you can create dashboards which can show several reports on one page. Dashboard page with all key reports about the specific business area can provide a quick overview of the current business status and key performance indicators.

If you would like to share your reports on some web page using iframe or post them on big screens using wallboard option, or send on email, first, create dashboards in flex.bi. And only then you can share this dashboard as you see fit.

Create a new dashboard

Go to flex.bi tab Dashboard and chose option Create new dashboard or New. Then enter the name of the dashboard [1], add reports you would like to include [2] and save changes [3].

You can adjust the placement of reports by dragging and dropping them, inserting a page break [4]  (if "Export to pdf" is installed) between reports, remove frame [5], align on the left or right side of the dashboard [6], and change report relative width [7]. 

You can represent individual reports or all reports collapsed [8] in the dashboard, thus saving place. This option is handy when publishing table reports with a long or changing row count and reports that are quite resourceful and rarely used.

It is more convenient to rearrange reports while they are collapsed; use the feature Collapse all. When reports are reorganized in new places, you can expand all reports and proceed with minor adjustments.

By default, flex.bi dynamically calculates the height of the reports. You can change and fix the report height [9] when editing the dashboard. If you show several reports on the same row then adjust them to the same height to ensure that they are always aligned when changing the browser window size.
Click Reset to default [10] to return to the automatic report height calculation. Don't forget to Save changes [11] of the dashboard layout.

Arrange dashboards in folders

You can arrange dashboards in folders. Dahsboards share folders with reports; you can manage dashboard folders (create new, rename, or delete them) from the Analyze tab.

A new dashboard is created in the opened folder [1], and by default, folder reports are displayed for adding, but you can add reports from other folders too. To move the dashboard to another folder, open the dashboard in edit [2] mode, click Move to [3], and select the dashboard folder for destination.

Page filters for dashboard

If several reports have the same dimension on pages [1] (e.g., Time dimension to select a necessary period, or Store Sales as in the example below) then you can add this dimension for the whole dashboard as page filter. Open dashboard in edit mode. In report, click on page dimension you would like to bring out and chose common page [2]. The chosen dimension will appear on the top of a dashboard.

When you save dashboard then all current common dashboard page selections are saved as well for this dashboard (and in this dashboard will override default page selection in included reports). All non-common report page dimensions after dashboard page refresh will use default report page selection.

After saving dashboard you can select dashboard page dimension members and all reports which have this page dimension will refresh results.

If multiple dimensions are in the pages section, an additional option Nonempty for pages is available to limit dimension members for the page filter drop-down lists [4]. The limitation is based on the dimension order, the selected value on the left dimension limits the value list for the dimensions on the right [5]. You can enable the Hide common dimensions feature [6] to hide the dimension from dashboard reports [7] since it is now filtered by a common page filter.

When you save the dashboard, all current common dashboard page selections are saved as well for this dashboard (and in this dashboard will override default page selection in included reports). All non-common report page dimensions after dashboard page refresh will use default report page selection.

After saving the dashboard you can select dashboard page dimension members and all reports which have this page dimension will refresh results.

Interact with dashboard

There are two additional features in flex.bi to interact with the dashboard.

Show the last import time

When hovering the mouse on the report frame, the new button with the "clock" icon appears. On mouseover (after a few seconds), this icon will show when was the last successful import in your flex.bi data cube.

Switch to table view

There is a feature to switch charts to table view temporarily. It will be reset once you reload the dashboard again.

Dashboard email subscription

You can subscribe to receive a regular email of your dashboards from the menu.

You will receive an email with a PDF attachment of all dashboards you have scheduled to be sent during half an hour time span. Please select either weekdays and time [1] or specify days of month and time [2] how often you would like to receive emails. If you set 31^st day in Days of a month settings but some month does not have that many days, the email will be sent in the first day of new month. Don't forget to check and adjust the time zone for the subscription schedule [3].

You can customize the text in email body when or flex.bi Enterprise is used.

Export and import dashboard definitions

If you have several flex.bi accounts or several flex.bi environments (development, test, production) then you can export dashboard definition from one flex.bi account and import into another. Exported dashboard definition includes all report and calculated member definitions that are used and needed for this dashboard as well as report layout in dashboard and common page filters.

On the dashboard header toolbar, click on the Export definition [1] to copy the layout of currently selected dashboard or Export definitions of all dashboards [2] to copy all visible dashboard from current flex.bi account.

You will see dashboard definition in JSON format, please copy this definition for pasting it in the other flex.bi environment.

Now you can visit the other flex.bi account where you would like to import one or several exported dashboards and chose option Import definition.

In Import dashboard definition dialog paste previously copied one or all dashboard definitions and click OK.

After import will be done you will be able to see and use imported dashboards in the new flex.bi account.

Export to PDF

You can export a dashboard to PDF. If you use flex.bi Enterprise and do not see this option, contact your flex.bi administrator and ask to install Google Chrome on flex.bi server.